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 Aug 2015
moss
She was in love
With old books.
She was in love with
The way they smelled
As she flipped the pages
And felt the air hit her face.
She was in love with
The rough texture
Of the paper worn over time.
She was in love with
The yellowed tint of the pages
And the crumple of water spots.
She was in love with
The broken and tattered
Binding that crinkled
When you touched it.
But most of all,
She was in love with
The stories that not only
The words written in them held
But the stories behind each
Coffee stain and torn corner.
The idea that this book
Had connected with
So many other people
Enchanted her,
And she wondered if
Maybe she wasn't as
Strange and odd
As people told her.
And she thought that just
Maybe she wasn't as
Alone as she felt.
 Aug 2015
Jack Aylward
The u-turn of uninterrupted talk
Falls short before the midnight hour
And through the remembrances
The hushed
Echoing of a printed face smiles
Among the old and new.
But only you know he has gone,
For your heart is broken
And thrown about the room
Where your old man's chair sits alone....
Where you once shared
A laugh and a joke,
A tear and a smoke,
A kiss and a hug,
A poem and a mug
Of tea,
(With a wee dram of Glenmorangie)
On a cold night
By the firelight,
Reading Frost
- 'The Grindstone'
In candlelight,
Listening to Django Reinhardt's
'Crazy Rhythm'
On the radio
As it beats out a frenetic system
Of notes that runs and parts
Into segments of your mind.
Now you are on your own,
You sit back to find
What you have lost....

©Jack Aylward,
July 2013
 Aug 2015
Aztec Warrior
POEM 31

The sea is calm tonight,
reflecting star light
and a Summer moon.
Walking on these wave swept sands,
I see you swimming the salty tides,
diving under
then emerging,
your playful smile
moves an ocean breeze
across my face
and I warmly reply:

Saturn’s in the 5th moon;
stars dance to your mermaid’s tune
and I build sand castles
to shelter you from coming storms.

Breath me into your waters.

Aztec Warrior 7.31.15
wanted to write something nice for a friend who heard sad news tonight... hope they like it...
 Jul 2015
MaryJane Doe
No matter
the weather
Rain
Or shine
With a blankie
Its better
With a blankie
It's fine

You rarely
Find Riley
At a tea party
With out
the security
Of her snuggly
blankie

This blankie
is special
Introduction
Necessity
Hello Riley
"My blankie"

Morning
To night
Never
Out of sight
Riley
loves her blankie
Always
holds it tight

Someday
She'll grow up
And forget
What it was
But we'll always know
It was something
she loved
 Jul 2015
Aniron
You
the passing cloud in pale blue skies
the ocean wide that drinks your eyes
the sailing storm one summer’s day
the rain to kiss the blush of May

You

the growing rose in winter’s frost
the secret smile no sight wants lost
the lonesome tree down by the lake
the breeze that makes its foliage shake

You

the touch that is with sunlight crowned
the voice in which the sea has drowned
the stare which makes the moon glow more
the long lost wave to kiss the shore

You

the distant sigh that calms the screams
the hidden glister among the beams
the unseen path amidst the vine
a love for which the dreamers pine

You.
 Jul 2015
Dead Rose One
Lush is the quietude
of the late Saturday afternoon,
rich are the silencing sounds,
as variegated as the shades of greens
of a man-seeded, nature-patchworked lawn

rays reveal some bright,
some yellowed spots,
all a potent color palette

resting worry wearied eyes,
untroubled by the gentle fading light's illumination,
that soon will disappear and seal officially,
another week gone by

the lawn,
acting as an ceiling acoustic tile,
absorbing and reflecting
the varied din of disharmonious
natural sounds orchestrated,
an ever present reminder
     that true quiet
is not the absence of noise

I hear
the chill in the air,
insects debating vociferously
their Saturday evening plans,
the waves broom-swishing beach debris,
pretending to be young parents
putting away the children's toys for the eve

the birds speak in Babel multitudes of tongues,
chirps, whistles, clicks and clacks,
then going strangely silent as if all were
praying collectively the afternoon sabbath service,
with an intensity of the silent devotion

this moment, i cannot
well enough communicate,
this trump of light absolutes,
and animal maybes,
that are visually and aurally
presented  in a living surround sound screen,
Dolby, of course,
all a plot of
ease and gentility,
in toto,
sweet serenity

here to cease,
no more tinkering,
leave well enough,
plenty well enough
for Sally and Rebecca, who love the lushness best....

JUNE 2015
 Jul 2015
spysgrandson
who ever sees them
in this canopy of night
until one barks out…
tracers, hot light?

oh
this ground
cleared by chemical fire
from orange barrels, then blessed with monsoons,
I, kneeling, feeling, the modern moors’ mush
wet my knees

do you see
what I do? do you hear,
do you fear, slant eyed demons
who can blend into the ground
make not a sound
until…?

it is too late for me
I have seen them, I have
made them black with light
crisscrossed with crimson
too late for me, after all
this fine art I crafted

other pictures I painted
still dripping in my dreams
you can't see them, framed
by my memory, lies
I wanted to believe

forty-five years
to the day after I returned
my grandson, six years ancient
told me what happened to dinosaurs
I didn't see a meteor but I don't tell him
his brown eyes wide with curiosity
when he rubs the scar on my arm

his tender touch takes me back
to the fields where the invisible game
still lay, waiting for me to return
to resurrect them, and me
but I cannot see, what
was never there
To my knowledge, this Vietnam recollection has nothing to do with the Bruce Springsteen song, Hunter of Invisible Game, though the title itself did inspire the piece.
 Jul 2015
Mike Essig
"Helen, the radiance of women..." - Homer

Had Helen of Troy been a modern American woman,
she would have checked her email, called her boss,
updated her Facebook page, looked at her calendar,
gone to the gym and talked with her therapist
before running away with Paris.
She would also have consulted her girlfriends
to determine if he was really that into her
and examined a bevy of relationship
self-help books just to make sure.
Certainly, she would have googled him,
had a friend perform a credit check,
and demanded an STD clearance from his doctor.
When the ships and soldiers arrived
to redeem her honor and rescue her,
she would have told them in a huff
that she was an independent woman
quite capable of taking care of herself
and didn't need the help of any men,
before stepping over the dead male bodies
and accepting a free ride home.
Later she would write a wildly popular
estrogen drenched memoir about her trials
filled with spiritual advice, travel notes and recipes.
Paris, of course, would be conveniently dead.
Some stories do not improve when updated.
  - mce
repost
 Jul 2015
Dhaye Margaux
Why do people love
*If they will only get hurt
?
Why do people care
When they knew it from the start?

Why do heart beats for someone
Only to cry at night
Why do eyes are blind sometimes
When it really sees the light?

Do hearts that love for real
Enjoys the falling rain?
Do people that truly love
Enjoy pleasurable pain?
random thoughts
To write is to release,
For speaking is awaiting critique,
Words on paper- give them thought,
They'll give you peace.
No reply needed.
Words in the air however, they seek ears,
Firing a response, be it helpful or not.

No.

Put it in words. Just for you.
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